Posts Tagged: "James Webb Space Telescope"

In 1996, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) began construction of a space telescope which would be the planned successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, a massive scientific instrument sent into orbit just a few years earlier in 1990. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), currently scheduled to launch in October 2018, is a large infrared telescope which will dramatically improve upon the vision of the universe which we get through Hubble. This November, NASA moved into an important phase of tests that will aid in assessing whether the JWST can get through launch conditions, including intense sound and vibrations, without affecting the operation of JWST’s optical system afterward.

The use of larger mirrors enabled the creation of more powerful telescopes over time. However, by the 1970s the size of the mirror itself was becoming a limiting factor on building better telescopes as larger mirrors were prone to deforming. To address this, scientists began looking at creating large mirrors for astronomical telescopes by fusing together many smaller mirrors in a honeycomb structure. This year, the National Inventors Hall of Fame inducted a new member for his contributions to the production of large mirrors for astronomical telescopes: British-born astronomer J. Roger P. Angel. This Friday, August 19th marks the 30th anniversary of the issue date of the patent for which Angel was inducted.